Sebastian Coe also salutes James Bond stunt double from 2012 opening ceremony, who died in wing-diving accident Sebastian Coe and Danny Boyle led tributes to Mark Sutton, the stuntman who was James Bond’s stunt-double in London 2012 opening ceremony, who died in a wing-diving accident.
Sebastian Coe also salutes James Bond stunt double from 2012 opening ceremony, who died in wing-diving accident
Sebastian Coe and Danny Boyle led tributes to Mark Sutton, the stuntman who was James Bond’s stunt-double in London 2012 opening ceremony, who died in a wing-diving accident.
Swiss police were investigating how the experienced 42-year-old wingsuit flyer was killed on Wednesday, after jumping from a helicopter wearing aerodynamic equipment and hitting a mountain ridge at a high speed.
Coe, who chaired the 2012 organising committee, and is now chairman of the British Olympic Association, said: “I was shocked to hear the desperately sad news. The cast and volunteers in London became a very close-knit family … Mark was a consummate professional and team player. He will be widely missed.”
Boyle, who designed the opening to the games, said Sutton and Gary Connery, who doubled for the Queen and jumped with Daniel Craig’s substitute from a helicopter over the Olympic stadium, had “left indelible memories for people from all walks of life all over the world … Disciplined and brave in situations most of us would find terrifying. Mark was also a gentle and thoughtful man,” he wrote in the Evening Standard.
“The show was built from so many contributions from so many people, none finer and braver than Mark Sutton.”
Connery said Sutton had been smart, articulate and funny. “In any sport where you share a common bond you can make friends in a heartbeat that last a lifetime,” he told the Sun. “My relationship with Mark was like that.”
Police in the Swiss Valais canton said Sutton had died after jumping with a friend from a helicopter while wearing a wingsuit above the Grandes-Otannes area, close to the French border. The men had jumped from a height of 10,826ft (3,300m) at around 11am and had planned to land close to the hamlet of Le Peuty, near Trient.
Jean-Marie Bornet, of Valais police, said Sutton’s injuries were so severe that experts had to use a DNA test to confirm his identity. “We do not know what caused his death but we know it was immediate. The weather was good but when a pilot takes part in this sport, the aim is to fly very close to the ground or mountain side. If you do this at speeds of 200kmh, the margin for error is very small.”
Investigators were considering whether winds may have influenced Sutton’s trajectory, leading to the crash. One hypothesis is that he was too close to the mountain, Bornet said.
Wingsuits are special jumpsuits which increase the surface area of the body and act like a parachute wing, allowing users to glide through the air at high speeds before deploying a parachute.
Sutton, from Shere, Surrey, a former officer in the Gurkha Rifles, also worked as a consultant for RBS Markets and International Banking.
The wingsuiters were in the region as guests of a company specialising in filming extreme sport for the internet. A statement on the website of Epic TV, which organised the non-competitive event near Martigny, said: “The accident occurred on the first day of the three-day event after several successful jumps had already been made.
“Rescue services arrived quickly and determined that Mr Sutton had immediately died upon impact.”
Trey Cook, editor-in-chief of Epic TV, based just over the border in Chamonix, France, told the Guardian Sutton was among 20 of the world’s best wingsuit pilots invited to take part in the event. He had jumped with Tony Uragallo, a well-known manufacturer of wingsuits, and like the other pilots, had been equipped with small Gopro cameras commonly used in extreme and adventure sports.
Unfortunately, however, Uragallo had lost track of Sutton as he flew out of sight, Cook said. He added he had not known Sutton well but “on the few times I spoke to him he was a lovely person, full of energy and positivity and just passionate about life and living, getting the most out of life as he could”.
After the accident, said Cook, the organisers “took a step back and let the pilots determine what would happen”. Most had decided to continue to fly in tribute to Mark although Uragallo had not flown again, Cook said.
“Wingsuiting does have its risks, like extreme skiing or Formula One car racing. Accidents happen and it is a sport that is very unforgiving for its mistakes. It is definitely not the first accident of this kind.”